The Museum of Dumb Guy Stuff

 

This little museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has no website, no admission tickets, and a very funny name. Everyone of all ages will enjoy it, not just guys.  And this year, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Portsmouth, the museum is featuring lots of history.  There are lots of unique, small museums in New Hampshire, but this has got to be one of my very favorites! 

This little, tiny Museum of Dumb Guy Stuff is located in the basement of an old house on 114 Mechanic Street in Portsmouth (almost across the street from Geno's restaurant).  It is run by Clayton Emery and Rod Hildebrand, and opened to the public about five years ago.  The basement space is full of "stuff" including lots of historic scenes made out of action figures like G.I. Joe and Barbie as well as anything else that can be converted or redesigned.  There is no admission fee, and they refused to take a donation ("We're not an official museum"). 

Visiting this museum is a bit of nostalgia ("I had that figure!"), a bit of American history ("look at that scene from the Old West!"), and a lot of fun.  Besides history, there are scenes from around Portsmouth, scenes from movies, TV, and what ever else Emery and Hildebrand imagine.  

Inside the museum

Out in the garden (in front of the museum) 

Clayton Emery describes the details in this 20th century diorama of Portsmouth

This year The Museum of Dumb Guy Stuff features dioramas of Portsmouth history for the 400th anniversary. When we visited this summer we saw the 20th century diorama, and the 18th and 19th century dioramas have been moved for display at the visitor center for the Portsmouth Historical Society at 10 Middle Street.  

"Oldest 'action figure'. Dug up in the back yard

Probably buried by some little brother 150 years ago."

Ancient Gaul. LOL!

For the truly curious:

The Museum of Dumb Guy Stuff on Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/DumbGuy2/ 

A story about the Museum of Dumb Guy Stuff at RoadsideAmerica.com:    https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/66000   

The Museum of Dumb Guy Stuff, 114 Mechanic Street, Portsmouth. Open daily 10am to 3pm 

The Porstmouth Historical Society, 10 Middle Street, Portsmouth.  Open daily 10am to 5pm. $10 general admission. Walking tours and tickets to the John Paul House are available, too. https://portsmouthhistory.org/  

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Museum of Dumb Guy Stuff", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 19, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-museum-of-dumb-guy-stuff.html: accessed [access date]).